What is the Job Description of an Insurance Agent?

Insurance Q&A: “What is the job description of an insurance agent?”

The basic job description of an insurance agent is to sell insurance to consumers at the retail level.  Ultimately, it is a sales job.

There are a few different types of insurance agents.  You may choose to be independent agent, meaning you’re contracted to sell insurance products for multiple companies, or a captive agent, meaning you only sell products from a single insurance company.

There are differences between captive and independent agents, but as far as the job description goes, they are pretty similar.

Insurance agents spend a great deal of time marketing/advertising their services, through various means to attract customers to pitch insurance products.

Examples of marketing include direct mail campaigns, cold calling, yellow page ads, Internet advertising and community involvement.  The job may require a lot of “hustling,” especially early on.

There are very few insurance agents who survive on referral business alone, so do not expect to sit in an office and receive enough walk-in traffic to support your business.

Once you have a potential client, you’ll need to collect the pertinent information to obtain an insurance quote(s).

Captive agents may offer a single quote, while independent agents will typically offer a number of quotes because they represent multiple insurance carriers (or companies).

Almost all the companies that sell personal lines of insurance have quoting software available online, so the process isn’t very difficult.  Of course, you will need to discuss the different types and amounts of coverage available with the consumer.

If the prospective insured likes the quote, ideally they’ll purchase an insurance policy.  If they do, you’ll earn a commission, which can vary from 8% of the insurance premium up to 20% or more.

You will also be paid an additional commission if the insured chooses to renew their policy after the initial term expires.  This is where the bulk of the money is made over time.  Your goal as an insurance agent is to both sell and renew policies.

Of course, it’s also the insurance agent’s responsibility to review all policies that renew to ensure the client is still getting a good deal.  However, this is not always necessary if there hasn’t been any major rate change at the company you initially sold the policy through.

Additionally, you may have the responsibility of handling smaller claims and collecting payments for the insurance company you work for or represent.

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This post was written by The Truth Team on November 15, 2009 Comments (0)